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Pope Francis meets U.S. actor George Clooney (C) and his wife Amal (L) during a meeting of the Scholas Occurrentes at the Vatican, May 29, 2016. Osservatore Romano/ Handout via REUTERS ROME (Reuters) – Pope Francis on Sunday awarded medals to American actors Richard Gere and George Clooney and actress Salma Hayek at an event held at the Vatican to promote the work of a foundation inspired by the pontiff, Scholas Occurrentes. Clooney attended the event with his wife Amal, a lawyer. The foundation, whose name means “schools that meet” in Spanish, links technology with the arts, aiming at social integration and a cultural of peace. Francis had created a similar organization when he was Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, but Scholas has now become an international foundation working out of the Vatican. “Important values can be transmitted by celebrities,” said one of the organizers, Lorena Bianchetti, adding that the actors had agreed to be a...

Actor Jennifer Lawrence poses with James MacAvoy (L) and Oscar Isaac at a screening of X-Men Apocalypse at a cinema in London, Britain, May 9, 2016. REUTERS/Hannah McKay By Brent Lang LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Fox’s “X-Men: Apocalypse” and Disney’s “Alice Through the Looking Glass” squared off over Memorial Day weekend, but both blockbuster hopefuls emerged bruised from this box office clash of the titans. The latest X-Men adventure easily topped the weekend, earning an estimated $65 million. It is on pace to pull in over $76 million over the four-day spell. That’s a solid start, but a significant drop off from the $110.5 million that the previous film, “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” racked up over the 2014 Memorial Day holiday. Things were much bleaker for “Alice Through the Looking Glass.” The follow-up to 2010’s “Alice in Wonderland,” which racked up more than $1 billion during its run, stumbled out of the gate, bombing with $28.1 million and a pr...

An Iraqi Shi'ite fighter fires artillery during clashes with Islamic State militants near Falluja, Iraq, May 29, 2016. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani SOUTHERN OUTSKIRTS OF FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) – The Iraqi army stormed to the southern edge of Falluja under U.S. air support on Monday and captured a police station inside the city limits, launching a direct assault to retake one of the main strongholds of Islamic State militants. A Reuters TV crew about a mile (about 1.5 km) from the city’s edge said explosions and gunfire were ripping through Naimiya, a largely rural district of Falluja on its southern outskirts. An elite military unit, the Rapid Response Team, seized the district’s police station at midday, state TV reported. The unit advanced another mile northward, stopping about 500 meters (yards) from the al-Shuhada district, the southeastern part of city’s main built-up area, army officers said. The battle for Falluja is shaping up to be one of the bi...

Justin Bieber performs a medley of songs at the 2016 Billboard Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., May 22, 2016. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/Files May 27, 2016 By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) – Canadian pop star Justin Bieber and the co-writers of his 2015 smash hit “Sorry” are being sued for allegedly stealing a vocal riff from another artist who said she used it on her own song a year earlier. In a complaint made public on Thursday, Casey Dienel, an indie artist who performs under the name White Hinterland, accused Bieber of infringing her copyright to the song “Ring the Bell” by using a “virtually identical” riff without permission. Among the other defendants are the producer Skrillex and Vivendi’s Universal Music Group. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Nashville. Spokespeople for Bieber, Skrillex and Universal had no immediate comment or did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Dienel said “Sorry,” which appears on Bieber’s album...

The SWIFT logo is pictured in this photo illustration taken April 26, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/Illustration/File Photo May 27, 2016 By Dustin Volz and Jeremy Wagstaff WASHINGTON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Hackers who stole $81 million from Bangladesh’s central bank have been linked to an attack on a bank in the Philippines, in addition to the 2014 hack on Sony Pictures, cybersecurity company Symantec Corp <SYMC.O> said in a blog post. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has blamed North Korea for the attack on Sony’s Hollywood studio. A senior executive at Mandiant, the cybersecurity company investigating the Bank Bangladesh heist, also told Reuters the hackers had recently penetrated banks in Southeast Asia. In the blog post published on Thursday, Symantec did not name the Philippines bank or say whether any money was stolen, but said the attacks could be traced back to October last year. It did not identify the hackers. The Philippines centra...

Actor Johnny Depp (R) and wife Amber Heard arrive at the Southport Magistrates Court on Australia's Gold Coast, April 18, 2016. REUTERS/Dave Hunt/AAP May 27, 2016 By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Actress Amber Heard obtained a restraining order on Friday against her estranged husband Johnny Depp after accusing the actor of verbal, emotional and physical abuse, days after she filed for divorce to end their 15-month marriage. Heard, 30, said in court filings that Depp, 52, was abusive to her throughout their marriage, culminating in an argument on Saturday night in which he hurled a cell phone into her face and shattered various objects in her apartment. The filings includes pictures of Heard’s injured face. She appeared to have a bruise on her right cheek as she left a downtown Los Angeles courtroom. The judge granted a temporary restraining order for Depp to stay at least 100 yards away from Heard and move out of the couple’s shared cond...

Anti-deportation demonstrators protest outside of the White House in Washington, December 30, 2015. REUTERS/Carlos Barria May 27, 2016 By Julia Edwards WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. immigration officials have kicked off a new round of raids intended to deport hundreds of Central American mothers and children who have entered the country illegally, according to a legal group that works with the immigrants. Immigration enforcement officers as of Friday had arrested about 40 women and children encompassing at least 18 Central American family groups in Texas, North Carolina, South Dakota and possibly other states, said Laura Lichter, an immigration lawyer and a former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Reuters reported on May 12 that the raids were planned for May and June and likely would be the largest deportation sweep targeting immigrant families by the administration of President Barack Obama this year after similar raids in which 121 pe...

Long-Feared Drug-Resistant Superbug Found for First Time in U.S. 1:51 A drug-resistant "superbug" that doctors have been dreading has shown up in the U.S. for the first time, ...

A labourer welds steel frames at a steel factory in Huaibei, Anhui province June 2, 2010. REUTERS/China Daily May 27, 2016 By David Lawder and Ruby Lian WASHINGTON/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – U.S. regulators on Thursday launched an investigation into complaints by United States Steel Corp <X.N> that Chinese competitors stole its secrets and fixed prices, in the latest trade spat between the two countries. The International Trade Commission (ITC) said in a statement that it has not made any decisions on the merits of the case. U.S. Steel, in its complaint under section 337 of the main U.S. tariff law, is seeking to halt nearly all imports from China’s largest steel producers and trading houses. The commission identified 40 Chinese steel makers and distribution subsidiaries as respondents, including Baosteel Group, Hebei Iron and Steel Group, Wuhan Iron and Steel Co Ltd <600005.SS>, Maanshan Iron and Steel Group <600808.SS>, Anshan Iron and Stee...

Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump holds a rally with supporters in Anaheim, California, U.S., May 25, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst May 27, 2016 By Emily Stephenson BISMARCK, N.D. (Reuters) – Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders on Thursday explored staging an unconventional U.S. presidential debate that would sideline Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and create a television spectacle that could attract huge ratings. The two men – a billionaire and a democratic socialist – expressed interest in a one-on-one encounter in California even though Republican and Democratic presidential candidates traditionally do not debate each other until the parties have selected their nominees. “I’d love to debate Bernie,” Trump told reporters in North Dakota, after he secured enough delegates to clinch the Republican presidential nomination. “I think it would get very high ratings. It would be in a big arena.” Basking in his new...

Avigdor Lieberman, head of far-right Yisrael Beitenu party, (L) sits next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they sign a coalition deal to broaden the government's parliamentary majority, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem May 25, 2016. REUTERS/Ammar Awad May 27, 2016 JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s centrist environment minister announced he was resigning on Friday in protest at the inclusion of ultra-nationalist Avigdor Lieberman in the coalition government, the second such cabinet walkout in a week. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed up Lieberman as Israel’s new defense minister on Wednesday in a pact beefing up his coalition to six parties with control over 66 of parliament’s 120 seats, up from a razor-thin majority of 61. “The recent political maneuvering and defense minister’s replacement are, in my view, grave actions that ignore what is important for the country’s security and will bring about more extremism and ri...

A pharmacy employee looks for medication as she works to fill a prescription while working at a pharmacy in New York December 23, 2009. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson May 26, 2016 By Mark Miller CHICAGO (Reuters) – The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters. A letter arrives in the mail with this opening line: “We are writing to let you know how you can get help paying your Medicare costs.” Your fraud detector probably goes on high alert – the mailboxes of retirees routinely are stuffed with bogus come-ons. But this letter is no scam. More than 2 million seniors are receiving letters this month from the Social Security Administration (SSA) telling them that they could be eligible for Extra Help, a program that often covers up to 75 percent of prescription drug costs. Others may be eligible for a partial subsidy on drugs, or for a Medicare Savings Program in their states, which help pay Medicare Part B costs. The letters are sent ann...

A computer screen shows features of the Windows 10 operating system at the Microsoft store at Roosevelt Field in Garden City, New York July 29, 2015. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton May 27, 2016 SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese users of Microsoft products are criticizing the software company’s push to get them to mandatorily upgrade their Windows operating systems, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday. Posts critical of Microsoft on microblog site Weibo relating to the Windows 10 upgrade, which Microsoft users must switch to, have grown to over 1.2 million in number, it said. “The company has abused its dominant market position and broken the market order for fair play,” Xinhua quoted Zhao Zhanling, a legal adviser with the Internet Society of China, as saying. He said users or consumer protection organizations had the right to file lawsuits against the company as Microsoft had not respected users’ right to know and choose, and may eventually pro...

Japanese riot police guard in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan May 26, 2016 a day before U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrive in the city. REUTERS/Toru Hanai May 27, 2016 By Minami Funakoshi HIROSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) – Barack Obama on Friday becomes the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, site of the world’s first atomic bombing, a gesture Washington and Tokyo hope will highlight their alliance and breathe life into stalled efforts to abolish nuclear arms. Even before it occurs, though, the visit has stirred debate, with critics accusing both sides of having selective memories and pointing to paradoxes in policies relying on nuclear deterrence while calling for an end to atomic arms. The two governments hope Obama’s tour of Hiroshima, where an atomic bomb killed thousands instantly on Aug. 6, 1945, and some 140,000 by the year’s end, will highlight a new leve...

(Reuters) – Actress Amber Heard has filed for divorce from husband Johnny Depp after just 15 months of marriage, several media outlets reported on Wednesday. Heard, 30, filed the divorce petition in a Los Angeles court on Monday, citing “irreconcilable differences” with the 52-year-old Depp, the A-list actor who starred in “Pirates of the Caribbean,” according to a copy of the court documents uploaded online by celebrity news website TMZ. Reuters could not independently verify the report. Representatives for the two did not return calls or emails seeking comment. The couple got married in February of last year after meeting when they appeared together in the 2011 film “The Rum Diary.” The pair began dating after Depp split from his longtime partner, French actress Vanessa Paradis. Depp and Paradis are the parents of two teenage children, a boy and a girl. Depp and Heard made global headlines last year when they ran into legal trouble for bringing their Yorksh...

By Suzannah Gonzales CHICAGO (Reuters) – Tornadoes ripped through the U.S. Great Plains, badly damaging and destroying about 20 houses in Kansas, a day after two people were injured there in storms, local media and authorities said on Wednesday, and more dangerous weather is expected. Intense storms are possible across the region on Thursday and Friday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said, with large hail and damaging winds potential primary hazards. On Wednesday, at least one tornado tore through rural areas in Dickinson County, northern Kansas, an CBS-affiliated TV station reported, although the NWS had not confirmed the weather event’s status. No injuries were reported on the second day of dangerous weather in the region, and local government officers and rescue workers were making door-to-door checks on residents, the Kansas Highway patrol said. The NWS said that 14 tornadoes sightings were reported on Wednesday in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, ...

ISE-SHIMA, Japan (Reuters) – At least three atomic bomb survivors will attend an event in Hiroshima on Friday when President Barack Obama becomes the first incumbent U.S. leader to visit the site of the world’s first atomic bombing, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. Obama has said he will not apologize or address the debate on whether the Aug. 6, 1945, dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and on Nagasaki three days later was justified, but will honor all those who lost their lives in World War Two. He will be accompanied by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the visit.

Actors Mia Wasikowska and Johnny Depp arrive at the European Premiere of Alice Through the Looking Glass at a cinema in London, Britain, May 10, 2016. REUTERS/Paul Hackett May 25, 2016 LONDON (Reuters) – Lewis Carroll’s much-loved heroine Alice returns to the big screen for more fantasy adventures in “Alice Through the Looking Glass”, going through a mirror and then traveling back in time to help her friend, the flamboyant Mad Hatter. The colorful movie with plenty of special effects follows the 2010 box office hit “Alice in Wonderland”, with Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska and Helena Bonham Carter returning as the Mad Hatter, Alice and the Red Queen, respectively. The plot follows Alice, after a trip at sea, as she rushes to reunite the Mad Hatter and his family. “She’s just spent two years traveling the world as the captain of a ship and she’s very empowered and very much knows who she is,” Wasikowska told Reuters in an interview in London. Sacha Baron C...

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at the IBEW union hall in Commerce, California, U.S., May 24, 2016. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson May 25, 2016 By Jonathan Allen NEW YORK (Reuters) – Hillary Clinton broke government rules by using a private email server without approval for her work as U.S. secretary of state, an internal government watchdog said on Wednesday. The long-awaited report by the State Department inspector general was the first official audit of the controversial arrangement to be made public so far. It was also critical of department record-keeping practices before Clinton’s tenure. The report’s highly critical findings undermined her earlier defense of the arrangement and immediately fueled Republican attacks on Clinton, the Democratic front-runner in an already acrimonious presidential race. The report will add to Democratic anxieties about public perceptions of Clinton, whom a majority of voters say is dishonest, a...

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, U.S., May 16, 2016. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein May 18, 2016 By Ginger Gibson and Emily Stephenson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrat candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders each picked up primary wins on Tuesday in yet another demonstration of how divided the party is in the drawn-out national race to win the nomination for November’s general election. Clinton narrowly defeated Sanders in Kentucky, a state where she was not expected to win. Sanders bested her in Oregon, a state that played to his strengths. In Kentucky, the two candidates will likely split the 55 delegates up for grabs. In Oregon, Sanders will take only a handful more of the 61 delegates that were awarded. Clinton’s sizeable lead in delegates means it is likely she will eventually be her party’s nominee, but she remains more than 100 delegates short of sealing the deal. T...

Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Eugene, Oregon, U.S., May 6, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart/File Photo May 16, 2016 By Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton LONDON (Reuters) – Donald Trump said he was unlikely to have a good relationship with David Cameron because the British prime minister cast the U.S. presidential candidate as “divisive, stupid and wrong” for proposing a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States. Cameron criticised Trump in the British parliament over his call for the ban on Muslims and suggested that the New York billionaire, who is now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, would unite Britain against him if he visited. “It looks like we’re not going to have a very good relationship, who knows?” Trump told Britain’s ITV television station in an interview aired on Monday when asked how ties would fare if he won the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 8. “Well number one, I’m...

NEW YORK (Reuters) – – Pfizer Inc has taken steps to ensure that none of its products are used in lethal injections, the largest U.S. drugmaker said on Friday. “We are enforcing a distribution restriction for specific products that have been part of, or considered by some states for, their lethal injection protocols,” the New York-based drugmaker said on its website. “Pfizer strongly objects to the use of its products as lethal injections for capital punishment.” The move shuts off the last remaining open market source of drugs used in executions, following similar actions by more than 20 U.S. and European drugmakers, according to a report in the New York Times on Friday. The list of products includes the powerful anesthetic propofol, the drug that caused the death of pop superstar Michael Jackson. The other Pfizer products the drugmaker said it will block from use in executions are pancuronium bromide, potassium chloride, idazolam, hydromorphon...

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A New York City clinic has settled a malpractice lawsuit filed by the daughter of comedian Joan Rivers for an undisclosed amount over an ill-fated procedure that led to the celebrity’s death, lawyers for the Rivers family said on Thursday. Rivers, who was 81, suffered a loss of oxygen to her brain on Aug. 28, 2014, as physicians at the Yorkville Endoscopy center in Manhattan inserted instruments to examine her throat and vocal cords. She died a week later at a New York hospital. Her daughter, Melissa, filed a malpractice suit in January 2015, alleging doctors posed for selfies with their sedated celebrity patient even as her vital signs were plunging. “In choosing to accept this settlement, I am able to put the legal aspects of my mother’s death behind me and ensure that those culpable for her death have accepted responsibility for their actions quickly and without equivocation,” Melissa Rivers said in a statement released by her lawy...